Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lists separate presidential tickets for the governing and opposition parties, as party figures offer conflicting accounts of support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
INEC’s final list names Sandy Ojang Onor for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Tinubu for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Jan. 16, 2027, election. It also lists Umaru Babangida as Onor’s running mate and Kashim Shettima as Tinubu’s. The official nominations and reported coalition backing are separate political questions.
Premium Times reported on Oct. 30 that George Turner, whom the outlet identified as PDP chairman in Bayelsa State, told TVC News’ Beyond the Headlines that Onor remained in the race. Turner also said the Rainbow Coalition had selected Tinubu for president. He described coalition members as keeping their party nominees while coordinating on choices for other offices. “He is in the race,” Turner said, according to the report.
A statement posted on the PDP’s official account on Oct. 20 said the party would not support Tinubu’s re-election. Ini Ememobong, National Publicity Secretary of the party’s Interim National Working Committee, signed it. Ememobong argued that opposition parties should give voters another option for national leadership.
INEC’s party register lists Hon. Abdulrahman Mohammed as PDP National Chairman. The accounts came from different party figures: Ememobong signed for the interim committee, while Premium Times identified Turner as the Bayelsa chairman.
Premium Times also reported that Turner said a president from the South should remain in office through 2027 to complete an eight-year rotation. Turner cited the PDP’s 2013 zoning dispute, after which Atiku Abubakar and five party governors left the party. INEC schedules the presidential vote for Jan. 16, 2027.
